“He wasn’t going to let it ruin anything,” former Giants center Shaun O’Hara, one of Manning’s best friends, told Newsday of the remarkably joyous gathering. “He still felt the love from friends and family, teammates and everybody. “You have to just kind of roll with it,” O’Hara added. Laissez les bons temps rouler, in true New Orleans fashion.

Eli Manning will have to wait at least one more year to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame after what was a "contentious" discussion to leave him out.